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Homeless camp vote may be postponed

The City Council might not vote on the proposal to move the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp into the Peal District after all.

The camp is now at Northwest 4th Avenue and Burnside Street. Commissioner Amanda Fritz has already negotiated a plan to put it beneath the west end of the Broadway Bridge in the Pearl District to settle a pending lawsuit.

But on Thursday evening, Fritz told a meeting of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association that the city is now look at alternative locations for the camp, even though the move is still on next week's council agenda.

"Essentially what I have to tell you," Fritz said at the meeting, "is that discussions are continuing. And I don't know, at this point, whether we'll be moving forward with the proposed site."

KOIN 6 News has learned they have four alternatives, which may include an actual building somewhere in the city. So far no one is coming forward with specifics, however.

Many Pearl District residents are upset the city is considering allowing a homeless camp on the edge of their upscale neighborhood.

"I'm sorry I have to use the word: Let the riffraff stay where they are," said Pearl District resident Brian Westwood. "End of story!"

Pearl District association president Patricia Gardner says they're not against R2DToo. She said they want dealing with homelessness to be a city-wide issue, not just one for the Pearl.

"I think we will have solutions," Gardner said, "and whether or not the city likes them is a different question, but we will certainly have options that are viable."

Gardner met with representatives from Right 2 Dream Too and the city on Thursday, and offered to help find somewhere they could go.

Pearl District developers are also looking for an alternative.

Gardner said it could even include an actual building somewhere in the city.

"They don't want us in there," said Ibrahim Mubarak, a man who has stepped up to speak for the R2DToo camp. "[T]hey say they care about us, but they wasn't caring about us before we started to go into that area."

Mubarak said Right 2 Dream Two is willing to work with the Pearl District association, even though the association says it will still challenge the proposal to allow the camp to use the space beneath the Broadway Bridge.